SUFFOLK-based malt and malted ingredients producer Muntons has been named among the UK’s 20 “greenest” companies.

The Stowmarket firm is ranked in 20th place in the Sunday Times Best Green Companies listing for 2010 ? the third year running it has made the list.

Having jumped 21 places from its ranking in 41st place last year, Muntons is rated ahead of household names such as the UK arm of drinks giant Coca-Cola, global banking group HSBC and DIY chain B&Q.

It is also the highest ranking business in the whole of the UK food sector.

The annual listing rates businesses in all sectors for their efforts to reduce their impact on the environment.

Among the initiatives at Muntons to impress the judges this year were a �5million investment in environmentally-favourable processing equipment to reduce energy usage and carbon emissions.

They also praised the company for an initiative to investigate supplier sustainability programmes and for the conversion of previously unused land on the Stowmarket site into allotments on which staff are encouraged to grow their own vegetables

Alan Ridealgh, managing director of Muntons, said: “As a responsible business, I’m very proud of our top 20 placing.

“It reflects the substantial progress we’ve made in the past year to reduce the impact of our operations on both the local and global environment.

“Central to our approach is the idea that we should, wherever possible, make real carbon savings, rather than simply offsetting our activities. It’s this philosophy that ensures we are now considered one of the top performing businesses in the country when it comes to green initiatives.”

As well as its impressive overall ranking, Muntons also performed well in a number of sub-categories, achieve top 10 ratings for the environmental training it gives its staff, 1enabling staff to reduce the company’s environmental impact and the frequency of its carries out environmental auditing.

Mr Ridealgh added: “It’s important to remember that none of our achievements would have been possible without our wonderful and dedicated teams within our organisation, who are constantly looking at how we do things to see if they can be done in a more environmentally-friendly way.

“We won’t be resting on our laurels. We’ll be maintaining our efforts to see if we can achieve an even higher placing in next year’s s competition.”

The Sunday Times Best Green Companies listing this year is headed by office supplies company UKOS, based in Hemel Hempstead.

Well-known names on this list also include construction group Carillion, publishers Penguin and Harper Collins, accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers, BBC Worldwide, telecoms giant BT, Johnson Cleaners and insurance group RSA.